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Within the next few weeks, our company moving on down the road to our very-own new building. It's been a goal and a dream to be able to finally do this for our company.

It validates the hard work and customer service we've ALL put in to establish our company as one of the best companies in Phoenix. We're a bit aways from reaching our potential, so we have a lot of work to do. We can't wait to get settled in!

We'll be in our current location for the next few months while we prepare our new building for action. Once our move is completed, we'll promise to open our doors for everyone to see. Changes are coming!

Whether you're building a new pool, or renovating your existing pool the myriad of choices can leave you in a hazy fog. Design, shape, amenities, size, depth, color, tile, equipment, automation, etc... it all can be overwhelming. Below is a sampling of information that can help you get comfortable with "some" of the options available to you.

Interior Surfaces...

White Marble Plaster. Still beautiful and a popular choice for budget-conscious clients. Plaster is not as strong or resilient as it once was, making diligent maintenance and proper water chemistry a must.

​StoneScapes Touch Of Glass. Looking to add pizzazz to your interior surface? These are sparkling glass bead additives we can add to any pool finish. We can also create custom blends.

StoneScapes Puerto Rico Blend. Like Touch of Glass, the Puerto Rico Blend are glass bead additives to your Mini-Pebble surface. The only difference is that these are more "petite" pieces of glass.

​QuartzScapes Regular Series. Quartz is strong! Priced slightly higher than most Mini-Pebble aggregates, but adds a sleek, smooth, and elegant feel to any pool interior. Application technique is critical in achieving a gorgeous, consistent QuartzScapes surface.

QuartzScapes Caribbean Series. An upgrade from the QuartzScapes Regular Series. The Caribbean Series contain vivid blue, gray, and black hues that give the appearance of the water on the Caribbean islands.

​QuartzScapes Reflection Series. An upgrade from the QuartzScapes Regular Series. The Reflection Series provides a sprinkle of sparkle to the QuartzScapes surface.

ColorScapes. A mixture of ceramic-coated Quartz Crystals and Plaster. Pricing for this material can range from low to high end, depending on the mixture colors. Not as strong as QuartzScapes, but beautiful nonetheless!

​JewelScapes Classic Series. The crown jewel of surfaces! A glass aggregate surface that is distinctive and colorful. JewelScapes is costlier than all other aggregates, but lives up to it's cost... a true difference maker. Also available in different upgrade series that are listed below.

JewelScapes ONE Series. The ONE Series contains different mixtures of glass bead and Mini-Pebble and Regular Pebble.

​JewelScapes Blend Series. The Blend Series are batches of glass bead and/or pebble that can be custom mixed in with any Series.

All 1" Tile. Stunning and sophisticated. Tile prices ranges can be vastly different, as glass tile is more expensive than ceramic tile. Preparation and application techniques are critical in achieving long-lasting all-tile pool or spas.

Waterline Tile...

​​1", 3", 6" Waterline Tile. 6" is the still the most popular waterline tile. However, 1" waterline tile has grown in popularity and provides a unique backsplash to your pool interior.

We take our spillways very seriously. All of our spillways are custom-crafted, waterproofed, and designed to spill AWAY from the spa wall. You can check out our video of a 3 spa spillway project we designed and installed right hereand pics of this project right here.

Copper Spillways. The beauty of copper is it fits perfectly with Arizona's history, landscape, and natural color. Each spillway will patina over time to give it beautiful hues of green, gray, and blue.

Travertine Spillways. Travertine spillways can be customized with a short or long radius. Each of our spillways are honed and shaped to create beautiful sheets of water. View one of our projects right here.

Water & Fire Features. Our features are designed to work within the confines of the environment. Movement of water is beautiful to watch and listen to. You can view a water and fire project right here.

Depth Conversions...

From Diving Pool To Play Pool. More and more pool owners are deciding that their diving board days are over. Shallow play pools give you better overall use of the pool, and expands its capabilities... such as volleyball, basketball, and greater safety for children.

How Is This Done? We layout the pool area to be filled, snap lines, raise or delete the main drain, fill and compact, and use shotcrete to fill! Don't let this confuse you... we can make this a reality for any pool.

Sun Shelfs. Like depth conversions, Sun Shelfs can provide long, wide areas to lounge. Sun Shelfs are usually built near the entry steps with a depth of about 9"-12". These are great for extra space to sit in a partially submerged lounge chair, toddlers, or even dogs. You can view one of our projects that contain both a Sun Shelf and Depth Conversion right here.

Pebble Rolled Bond Beam Conversions...

Out With The Rolled Bond Beam. Many pools were constructed in the 1990's with Pebble Rolled Bond Beams. These beams rolled out of the water and provided a rounded edge alongside the beam of your pool. The fact is many of these beams are now cracking and deteriorating, causing extreme injury potential and being extremely unsightly.

In With Natural Stone. Many of our clients are choosing Flagstone or Travertine to replace the failing Pebble Rolled Bond Beams. We completely remove the pebble and shotcrete down to the original bond beam of the pool. We then re-build using Flagstone or Travertine. The end result is stunning. There's a major difference in quality of projects like this, so be very careful in choosing the right contractor for this type of work. You can view one of our projects right here.

Decks...

Acrylic. Acrylic is still our most popular and affordable choice when it comes to renovations. We provide several different patterns: Lace, Flagstone 2 Color, Flagstone 3 Color, and Stamped With Custom Color. All of these patterns are beautiful and will complement any work being done to the pool's interior surface.

Travertine Pavers. Far and away our preferred choice when it comes to accentuating your pool deck and/or patio. Travertine Pavers can be used as an overlay on top of your existing deck (in most cases) or we can rip up your existing concrete deck and apply new pavers and coping. Travertine Pavers are forgiving, natural, and resilient. No worries about cracked concrete. You can view one of our Travertine projects right here.

Belgard Pavers. Another popular and gorgeous way to achieve a completely different look to your deck is through the use of Belgard Pavers. As with Travertine Pavers, Belgard Pavers can be used an overlay over existing concrete or as a standalone set with polymeric sand. These pavers do achieve higher temperatures than Acrylic or Travertine, but the look is worth it. You can view one of our projects right here.

Equipment...

Equipment Matters! No matter how beautiful your pool looks, it makes no sense to have faulty equipment. Any pool must be able to move water efficiently, filter that water properly, and be able to clean itself. If we can achieve these 3 things, your newly beautifully renovated pool will stand a better chance of staying beautiful.

Just a nod to all of our dedicated, hard-working employees who helped us achieve more recognition from our clients. Love Pool Care has one again received the Angie's List Super Service Award for 2016! Great job, everyone... looking forward to an even busier and successful 2017!

Combine the words Arizona and Swimming Pool, and most people think of beautiful, sparkling swimming pools with huge waterfalls, blistering sun, twisting slides, tunes blasting, children bellowing out marco polo, colorful beach balls, Mai Tai’s melting away in the sun, and scantily clad women (or men) splashing around with no worries in the world.

That’s all true! Mostly.

What’s 100% true is that our pools take a beating in Arizona! In order to make the above scenarios come to life, our pools need to look and function their best! It’s not as easy as it appears!

Being a very busy pool company in Arizona, we get all kinds of calls to try and help our client’s pools. Each pool has it’s own, unique fingerprint. We’re in a diversified industry located at Ground Zero for demands placed on pools and their equipment. On any given call, we’ll transform into chemists, plumbers, electricians, laborers, mathematicians, leak detectors, consultants, and now automation programmers! It’s our responsibility to make sure our pools look and function their best when needed most!

From January thru December, our pools are being placed under tremendous stress. Yes… all year long! It’s critical to the present and future operations of your swimming pool to have it maintained and looked over on weekly schedule. I always use the comparison to doing laundry. The longer you ignore it, the longer it’s going to take to get caught up. Either way, it still needs to be done! There are no short-cuts!

What makes Arizona (specifically the Phoenix, Tucson, Colorado River areas) so special? Imagine a 10,000 to gazillion gallon vessel of water designed to hold water so that it doesn’t leak. In 115 degree heat. With a school of fish (children) swimming. With suntan lotion. Pee. Sweat. 100 pound Yellow Labs. Hard water. The lovely Palo Verde blossoms. Monsoon storms. You get the picture.

The water that resides in that pool must have enough flow that it filters correctly. The PVC pipes, fittings, and connections that contain the water must not leak. The equipment that takes in and returns the water to the pool must be air-tight and non-problematic. Once this is all accomplished, you need to make sure the water chemistry can be properly balanced despite our water being soaked with high calcium hardness.

Our pools are running constantly under some sort of pressure being put on the pipes, filters, pumps, chlorinators, heaters, in-floor heads, suction cleaners, spillways, drains, skimmers, and ultimately the entire pool vessel. A majority of these systems are exposed to direct sunlight, excruciating heat… all the while expanding and contracting each time it turns on and off. Every day for an average of 8 hours.

Now, combine all of this with aging equipment. Here we are in 2016, and the 20,000+ pools per year that were being built in the mid 1990’s are already over 20 years old! The landscape, foliage, and trees are also mature and likely hanging right over your pool! From 1.5” suction lines to pebble rolled bond beams, to oversized pumps and undersized filters… our pools need more care than ever.

The point being with all of this is that our pools need “LOVE”. A pleasing, satisfying experience can be had with any swimming pool. It takes smart, preventative maintenance to the water and equipment. Fortunately, recent technology and equipment advances have helped our pools become less problematic and more efficient. Newer pools with 2.5” suction lines, variable-speed pumps, cartridge filtration, smarter hydraulics, remote control automation, and better cleaning systems have enabled us to achieve greater efficiency, which has allowed the overall stress on a pool to diminish.

If you are having issues with your pool, please contact us at Love Pool Care anytime. We’ll be more than happy to provide information on how to achieve the pool of your dreams (and not a constant headache).Love Pool Care, lovepoolcare, Pool Service, Phoenix Pool Renovation, Phoenix Pool Repair Phoenix Scottsdale

﻿Love Pool Care Blog Special! Click link below to set up! We've created a very easy web form that gets you on our schedule. Just select your option, submit and we'll take care of the rest! This offer will only remain valid until our schedule becomes full, so please contact us immediately to get put into our rotation.

Our hottest February on record! This has left our pools feeling very confused... and our Service Technician's begging for just a few more 70 degree days! ​With swimming season not too far away, it means attending to some pools that could use an acid wash, tile or pebble waterline cleaning, or just new water. It really makes a difference, swimming in fresh water, with a clean surface and clean tile. If your pool hasn't been drained within the past 3 years, you may want to consider having this work performed.

Every so often something hits you that will pause you in your tracks​, enough to shake you, and hurt you. Especially when something is out of your control.

Back in 2008, in my office sat a mid 50's gentleman named Stan. No experience, pot belly, a bit of a red-flag on his resume. Not much to go on. What was present, was his dogged determination to land the open position as our pool service technician. I'll never forget Stan looking at me point-blank, telling me he'd outwork every one of our twenty-something employees and would make me proud.

Stan was hired. Stan held up to his end of the bargain... and then some. He may not have been the most knowledgeable. His pools may not have been altogether perfect all the time. But, I can tell you this. Stan ran our twenty-something employees under the table. His truck started at 4:30 most summer mornings. He arrived at the office on Saturday's to clean his truck. He made extra visits to our client's pools on the weekends. He cared about each client. In turn, our clients loved him. Stan didn't need to be managed every minute of the day because he took pride in his job. He embodied great work ethic.

October 2015, after about a total of 8 years with Love Pool Care, Stan was offered a position to go back to his previous career (inside office equipment sales). It was time, as our brutal summer and monsoon weather can understandably take a toll after a few years.

​​My last communication with Stan was the second week of October 2015. His W-2 was just returned to our office, with a hand-scribbled note on the envelope stating "deceased".

This couldn't be true! Everything just kind of stood still when that unopened envelope was delivered to me.​I emailed Stan asking if everything was OK. No response. I called his last known cell number, only to go unanswered. I searched obituaries, and scoured the Internet for any information. Nothing of significance.​

My last grasp was leaving a voicemail at a number that was listed several pages in on Google. Fortunately, I received a call back later that night. It was his ex-wife, and she did confirm... Stan had passed away in late October 2015 from unexplained causes. Our conversation was pleasant, but brief. I really didn't know what to say or ask. ​

I have to say that this has affected me a great deal. I do not know if he had a funeral? I don't know about his family?​ Or friends?​ The finality of this has left me sad and confused. I wanted the opportunity to stand up and tell his family and/or friends how important this man was to me. And our company. I wanted to share stories. I wanted that opportunity! This man gave me all he had for 8 years! I don't care if he had his "ups and downs"... we all do! The silence or lack of communication to me prevented this from happening.​

Stan was no longer that pot-bellied fella. The physical activity of his job kept him in shape. He played golf with his friends. He was quick witted, sarcastic, and funny. He rarely took a day off, even for vacations. Stan had integrity. And that's how I'll always remember him.

With the advancement of automation technology between Pentair, Zodiac, and Hayward... programming has become mainstream. That's great news for pool owner's as prices are finally coming down, while giving you more capabilities than ever before.

Our preferred choice of automation is the Pentair EasyTouch or Pentair IntelliTouch WITH ScreenLogic. ScreenLogic essentially will turn your wired system into a wireless remote capable of allowing you to access and program your equipment from your Android, Apple, or desktop applications. Macros can be used with the IntellITouch, allowing you to fully customize how you want equipment to operate. Obviously, the more pieces of equipment you have, the more you'll be able to take advantage of the macros. If macros aren't your thing, the EasyTouch performs just as well.

Another nice benefit with any automation system is the communication with Variable-Speed pumps. The relationship between Variable-Speed pumps and wireless automation will allow you to dial-in the pump and hopefully save on additional energy costs. Costs to operate your pool system have nose-dived with the proliferation of variable-speed pumps. Having automation control these pumps has allowed us to take advantage of these savings even further.

Whichever system your prefer and end up installing, take the time to fully understand how set-up and programming works. Most of the issues are self-diagnosed and are the result of poor programming of your equipment.

Of course, we at Love Pool Care can provide installation and repair of any system. In addition, we can provide programming to your automation or variable-speed pumps very easily. Contact us anytime, and we'll be more than happy to help.

Throughout the year, our company works very hard. VERY hard. I'm not the type of boss in which we're "OK" with being content with our work inside and outside of the office. Not a day goes by in which we're not trying to improve our system. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), my staff gets to hear my ideas and decision-making pretty much daily. I guess it's the fear of losing touch with our clients... which will never happen as long as my name is the company name.

So, this means changing, adapting, learning, creating, trying, hurrying, listening, and implementing. Every day. With one constant... we have some pretty amazing employees. Most care very much. They may not understand the passion that I express... but they're damn good people and they try their best to make our clients happy with Love Pool Care. The only way I can repay them is to work my tail off and help make our company the best in the Valley.

I'm very grateful to have a caring office staff that puts up with my constant managing, a repair staff that is second to none, service techs that follow our system, and renovation crews that make us proud.

Just a big thanks to everyone at LPC, including our wonderful clients. Carry on...

Thinking of adding a water feature to your pool? There are many different designs to choose from, but be careful. The water feature must blend in with the aesthetics of the pool, backyard, and region. A common mistake we see are water features that are too small or too big for the pool. Here are a few helpful hints when trying to decide...

Be original, but not over-the-top gaudy. Try to decide on a design that blends in with the environment and your pool. A stacked stone wok pot wouldn't look good on a contemporary, modern pool.

Make sure the existing equipment can handle another return line. This usually means the pump! Variable-speed pumps work great for custom-built water features because you can control the speed.

We like "real" rock. The faux rocks may be for some people, but nothing beats boulders taken from the quarries around Arizona. The rocks can be used for the stacked stone or large, boulder waterfalls large enough that require a crane to set in place.

Monsoon season is well underway here in the desert. Most of these storms arrive late afternoon, and can deliver a sudden, vicious bite! Preparing your pool beforehand can limit the amount of damage that may occur. Here are some recommendations...

Make sure your sand or DE filter is backwashed. If you have a cartridge filter, make sure it's been recently manually cleaned. Same goes for your DE filter. A lot of dust will be entering the water... so it's very important your filtration is working properly.

Make sure your pump baskets are free and clear. Same with skimmer and automatic cleaner leaf canister baskets. Fine particles can bypass the pump basket and enter the impeller. A clogged impeller will slow your system to a crawl.

Run your pump! Keep your pool water circulating.

Boost your chlorine! Any early contaminants entering the water via the storm will be zapped by your existing chlorine. Just be sure to test and adjust the following day.

Make sure you're automatic cleaner is working and running.

Examine your system the following day following the storm. A downed, stagnant system can lead to green water quickly.